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File Sharing In The 1980s With Italy’s TRAX Collective

Music from Italy’s TRAX collective are among the many highlights of Alessio Natalizia’s incredible Mutazione collection. While researching the work of the collective, we were struck by the way in which their creative approach in the early 1980s mirrored key elements of online and internet culture of the 2000s. In very literal ways, the TRAX guys were sharing files, creating social networks, and crowd-sourcing content 30 years before Tumblr, Facebook, Soundcloud or any of the other many great tools that make this kind of thing common place these days.

We were able to catch up with two of the founding members of TRAX, who graciously gave us more detail on their creative process, and the incredible music they made together which has spanned decades and continents. You can hear music from them and other members of the Italian New Wave movement on Mutazione, which is out now.